France Ponders Net Neutrality Decision

By Nick Clayton

Reuters

Pellerin: how web companies can put money into networks

France has been considering legislation to make large web companies such as Facebook and Google pay for the burden they place on telecommunications networks. It has opted instead to ask the National Digital Council to look into whether a law is necessary and how it might be implemented. A decision is due in late February.

The socialist government is concerned that web giants load networks with data traffic without contributing to investments by operators of broadband networks. Both web giants and Internet activists oppose the idea of charging content providers as it would violate the principle of net neutrality that all data traffic should be treated equally.

France’s debate on net neutrality and who should finance networks arose early in January when the country’s second-biggest broadband provider Iliad launched a feature to automatically block online advertisements.

The company withdrew the facility after an outcry from Web publishers and Internet activists, but not before Pellerin said it had a point.

“What solutions do Internet providers have when faced with content providers who use their networks but don’t invest in them?” [junior minister for the digital economy Fleur] Pellerin said last week.

“We need to ask serious questions about how Web companies can put some money into networks.”

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